she was a mirage

[alpacinou]

Have I used "mirage" correctly and naturally in this sentence?

What do you think about it?

John finally proposed to her in July and she accepted. But Jane turned out to be a mirage. John found out that she is not the perfect woman he had made her to be.

 

[GoesStation]

A "mirage" is an image of something that isn't really there. She was there; she just wasn't what he'd thought her to be.

 

[alpacinou]

I was trying to use it figuratively. He thought he was chasing after a perfect woman who didn't exist in reality.


So what can I use instead of mirage if it doesn't work?

 

[tedmc]

Jane showed her true colours.
Jane revealed her true self.

 

[Tdol]

I'd use she was not the perfect woman.

 

[alpacinou]

I found this example in Oxford dictionary:

His idea of love was a mirage.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Have I used "mirage" correctly and naturally in this sentence?

What do you think about it?

John finally proposed to her in July and she accepted. But Jane turned out to be a mirage. John found out that she was not the perfect woman he had made her out to be.

To make out something is to discern it or perceive it.

 

[emsr2d2]

"... the perfect woman he had made her out to be" means "... the perfect woman that he had described her as".

 

[Tdol]

I found this example in Oxford dictionary:

His idea of love was a mirage.

An idea is not a physical thing, so it's OK.

 

[alpacinou]

Okay what about this?

He soon found out the image of a perfect marriage he had created in his mind was nothing more than a mirage.

 

[GoesStation]

Okay what about this?

He soon found out the image of a perfect marriage he had created in his mind was nothing more than a mirage.

It works for me.

 

[Phaedrus]

John finally proposed to her in July and she accepted. But Jane turned out to be a mirage.

. . . But his sense of who Jane was turned out to be a fantasy.

 

[tedmc]

Okay what about this?

He soon found out the image of a perfect marriage he had created in his mind was nothing more than a mirage.

There is no mention about Jane here. Your original sentence was all about Jane.

 

[Tdol]

It works for me.

Yup, but it is a bit wordy.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Another minor point: We usually use mirage to to mean a distant optical illusion: The lake they had walked toward all morning turned out to be a mirage.

 

[Tdol]

An even more minor point: we could say towards in BrE.